X'Nedra's Story
by lady-kyo
Summary: X'Nedra has come to realize that sorcery will separate her from her beloved husband. She is half Dryad, but not even Dryads live forever. ON HIATUS
1. I Rember When

**X'Nedra's Story**

**disclaimer: the characters in this story belong to the original authors, David and Leigh Eddings. I just use the characters because the Eddings' _Belgariad, Mallorean, Elenium _and _Tamuli_ shaped how I write. I can't express how much the characters they created have effected me and my world-view. **

**So, cheesy as it may seem, this fanfiction is dedicated to David and Leigh Eddings, my favorite authors and the ones who opened my mind to fantasy.**

**this story will be told mostly from X'Nedra's point of view. yes, X'Nedra; the Dryads use the 'x', and I want to be true to X'Nedra's heritage. Besides, X'Nedra always loved to be difficult . . . and X'Nedra is my boyfriend's nickname for me (well, one of them)**

**Chapter 1: I Remember When . . .**

** X'Nedra's pov **

I remember the day it occurred to me that my husband and most likely my children would outlive me by eons.

Garion was snoring slightly, his arm around my waist as he dreamed the last few lazy dreams before he woke for the day. He would have a slight hangover from the previous night's celebrations, but it wouldn't stop him from doing as he'd been doing lately: studying.

I'm getting ahead of myself, I fear. I thought I'd mostly outgrown that trait, but apparently not. Last night was the Erastide feast. For our little family, Garion, Geran, Beldaran and me, the feast is about more than the midwinter holiday: it is also the day Garion was born, and the day his parents died so long ago. Perhaps not so long ago, for Garion.

The reason I know I won't live as long was staring me in the face, or snoring, as it were. I met Garion when we were fifteen and fell in love with him; at sixteen I raised an army to help him save the world, and married him. AN: I know I fudged the timeline a bit . . . but don't it flow so nice?

We had trouble conceiving, so I didn't have our son Geran until I was eighteen years old if I hadn't had him then, our own subjects, the Rivans, were going to have Garion put me aside in favor of one of those overly-fertile, blonde-braided Alorn cows. My cousin X'Antha showed up our sacred Dryad forest to help me remedy the situation. By that time every Alorn queen had traveled to the Isle of the Winds to add her two cents to the situation. My Uncle Varana was the one who finally convince my Dryad liege to send my cousin; he was doing quite well as the Emperor of Tolnedra, if you ask me. Everyone knows the story, and Geran was born. Then he was lost. Everyone knows the story. Then my beautiful Beldaran was born, and named for Polgara's beloved twin sister. Even Polgara had her own twins, sweet Garlan and Darion.

That was all so long ago. Geran is sixteen now, and Beldaran is blooming at thirteen; my Garion is truly Belgarion now, and I don't know where that leaves me. Belgarath has tested Geran and Beldaran, and he thinks they may have the Talent. Dryads are long-lived, but not immortal, and I'm only half-Dryad.

I am thirty-eight, and I will be old and gray before my children can even imagine it. Not that I feel incipient mortality poking me in the shoulder, but being half Dryad will only give me a few more decades over the human woman.

I wouldn't even be thinking about this if it weren't for Garion spending all his time in that dreadful tower of his he has set up, over in the east side of the Citadel. He's let Geran begin taking over some of the day to day running of the Isle so he can study the universe or something like that. He invites Geran or Beldaran to join him occasionally, but he never seems to ask me if I want to study with him.

Geran usually turns his father down, but Beldaran joins him frequently, when she isn't entertaining her various suitors. All the Alorn families have sent boys to meet her, but not many of the other kingdoms have sent suitors. Beldaran is going to be so beautiful; I wonder if I'll live to see her children, or who she marries.

I sighed and pushed Garion's shoulder. He rolled over and continued his snoring, but I knew it to be fake. He was trying to get a rise out of me, and it wasn't going to work this time. I pushed at his shoulder again, and he snored louder at me, tightening his hold on my waist.

"Fines," I said, smiling, "Then I'm too tired to do anything else this morning, too."

_That_ got the desired response.

I was walking in the Citadel later that day, trying to lose my ladies-in-waiting – by the way, what exactly are they waiting for? no-one ever told me, and I've spent all my time in royal courts, yet never once figured out what they're waiting for – when I happened upon Beldaran in a dark corner with Kheva, the crown prince of Drasnia. I've been told that I have a somewhat shrill voice.

From that point on, both Beldaran and her little playmate knew just how piercing. I lectured them at length about propriety until Garion dragged himself down from his tower to see what the noise was. Geran stayed in the throne room, rather wisely because he was the one who romantically introduced the two young ones. Wolf, however, came bounding into the hall from the general region of the throne room; as Geran's gotten older, Wolf has taken to protecting Beldaran from her suitors rather than sit by Geran's feet all day, looking menacingly at the petitioners bothering the prince.

"Beldaran, this is completely unacceptable! You are a princess of Riva and the Tolnedran Empire! You can not be hiding in dark corners with anyone, not even a Crown Prince! As for you, Kheva, shouldn't you be at Boktor, learning from your mother and actually carrying out some of your duties instead of letting your mother do all the work!?" I was at full voice when I felt my voice leave me, fleeing to someplace behind me. I turned and found Garion standing behind me, his hand outstretched as he stared right back at me.

He took me voice from me! That bugger took my voice, and all he could do was look at me. He didn't even give me an apologetic look. He nodded at me and turned his attention to Beldaran and her playmate.

"Your mother is right, Beldaran. No more hiding out in dark corners, and you won't be seeing any of your suitors for a week. As for you, Kheva, you are on the first ship back to Boktor. Your mother will be missing you by now. And you two won't be seeing one another for a month. Off with you," Garion shooed the two young lovers off in different directions, where servants came out of the woodwork to make sure they each did what they were supposed to do.

I just looked at Garion, because I still couldn't speak. He motioned for me to follow him, and I couldn't refuse.

I was raging inside when Garion and I finally mounted those damn stairs that led to his tower study. He said something I couldn't here and the door opened for us. He ushered me inside and followed, saying something else so the door would close. Unbidden, tears flooded my eyes and I turned my face to the floor so he couldn't see them.

"Speak," Garion said gently. I felt my voice return to me, but suddenly I didn't want to be in the same room with my husband.

"Not right now," I sobbed, hiccupping the words out as I headed for the door.

The damn thing wouldn't budge for me, and I knew that Garion had something to say that wouldn't wait. I turned back to my husband and tapped my foot rather impatiently.

"Well? What is it, Garion? I haven't been humiliated enough by you taking my voice from me in front of my daughter? It is bad enough you'll all outlive me by thousands of years I can't even talk to or scold my own daughter?" I cried, leaning my back against the door, waiting for him to answer.

"X'Nedra, I'm sorry; I didn't think, and I just wanted to actually do some parenting in regards to Beldaran. And what makes you think that we'll all outlive you?" Garion came close to hold me, and I let him.

"You're a sorcerer. Belgarath himself said our children could hold the same Talent. I am half-Dryad, but even Dryads die."

Garion's pov

I never thought about that side of life, not when X'Nedra was around, with her coppery hair and silvery laugh, and that temper that could so quickly become passion if we were arguing in the bedroom. But now that she came out and said the words, there was no going back. We couldn't pretend not to see how I wasn't aging, and how quickly our children were resembling us, looking more like siblings than offspring.

"X'Nedra, Geran won't become a sorcerer. He prefers this world too much. And Beldaran adores Kheva she wouldn't leave him, not even for immortality. I don't know what else to say, except that we can start pulling back from our royal life, and go out and travel the world again, if you like. We could spend the coming spring and summer in Tol Borune and Tol Honeth, visiting Uncle Varana, if you want. We could make it into a grand tour, stopping in Mallorea to see Cyradis and Zakath, dipping into the Vale to visit with Grandfather and Grandmother and Aunt Pol and Durnik and their twins," I said, desperately wanting to make my lovely wife smile.

"I'm going to die tomorrow, Garion," X'Nedra said acidly. "I just will die before you do, and probably after our children. This is so much for me. Please, let me leave," X'Nedra pleaded.

I had to let her go. But I would be talking with Geran tonight, and contacting our friends across the Sea of the Winds about visiting. It is high time I stop studying the world and study my wife again. She really has changed.


	2. Best Laid Plans

**X'Nedra's Story**

**disclaimer: the characters in this story belong to the original authors, David and Leigh Eddings. I just use the characters because the Eddings' _Belgariad, Mallorean, Elenium _and _Tamuli_ shaped how I write. I can't express how much the characters they created have affected me and my world-view. **

**So, cheesy as it may seem, this fanfiction is dedicated to David and Leigh Eddings, my favorite authors and the ones who opened my mind to fantasy.**

**Chapter 2: Plans Are Laid . . .**

X'Nedra's pov

I fairly ran from Garion's tower that day. I didn't want to talk about what was going on inside my head, not when he still has his head stuck in his sorcerer's studies. I can't even remember what he was studying then; no that it really mattered to me. It was so far beyond me but couldn't he wait to do these things until after I was gone? I'm thirty-eight he is going to have millennia after I die in seventy or so years, can't he do that stuff then?

I didn't stop running until I reached our apartments. I slammed the door once I was safely inside the room and I rammed a chair against the door, not that it would stop him from getting in if he really wanted to. I used to think that Garion would never use his sorcery on me, and until today, he never had. It was one thing all the experiments Aunt Pol did on her uncles and father when she was learning they weren't her spouse, and they didn't even know what she was doing, so what did she hurt?

I never used to fear Garion's power, when he was discreet about it. I know he used it in Arendia to deal with Mandorallen's troubles with his dead uncle's successor. I know about the Wood of the Dryad, when he burned Chamdar for hurting Aunt Pol. But knowing and experiencing are two very different things.

And on top of all of that, I was jealous. Why would I be denied this life and power that my husband would enjoy? I love my children dearly, but they are getting to the age that they don't need us, and Garion is the center of my life. I realize that it may make me a bad mother, but I love my husband above and beyond any others, even my own children to distraction; the idea that he'll live on lonely, or worse, with a new wife, is painful.

I slumped on our huge bed after I barricaded the door. I wasn't going to cry anymore. Tears rolled down my face as I drifted into a dreamless sleep.

Beldaran's pov

I have never fought so hard in my life not to laugh as I did when Da took Mum's voice away, right there mid-screech. Kheva and I really hadn't been doing anything wrong; we were just having some fun. I mean, really, he is so much older than I am, nothing is going to happen. He has a whole stable-full of willing concubines, same as my brother Geran, so he visits me because of the Alorn Brotherhood of Kings: Geran visits Anheg and Barak's daughters, but it doesn't mean he's bedding them whenever he finds a dark corner.

At least, I hope not. That would be so gross. Besides, those girls could all do so much better. Geran is so addicted to state work that Da has started letting him run the state, at least with the day-to-day stuff.

And what do I get to do? I get to be pinched and squished and laced up, and never get to use it to my advantage! Kheva is a dear, but all my other suitors are much more used to actually wooing a girl. Kheva is the Crown Prince of Drasnia, so he's used to getting what he wants just by being a king. Hmph!

I just want to leave and visit Grandpa and Grandda, but Mum won't have anything of it! Just because I'm not a sorceress like Aunt Pol, so according to Mum I wouldn't be able to protect myself on the way; Geran won't go with me, and Da is too busy in that tower of his, studying Belar knows what while Mum mopes around the castle, trying to figure out how to get him to spend more time with her. She is so utterly convinced that Da will live forever. Of course he won't! Da is immortal no more than Grandda is a wolf who changes shape to be with Grandpa.

I think Mum was just mad because Da took her voice away. It was rather funny, though. I wonder if Kheva has left for Drasnia yet . . .

Garion's pov

After X'Nedra left, I waited a little bit and thought before I headed for the throne room, where I knew Geran would still be, late as it was. Wolf was waiting outside the door to the throne room, whining slightly. I looked down at him and asked him a few quick questions in wolfish before I entered my son's domain.

Geran's hair had started out curly and coppery, like his mother's, but over the years the color had faded to what I was told was the natural sandy color most of our line has had. Aunt Pol used to lament over the long line of sandy-haired boy who liked to get into trouble that she had to shepherd. But now she has her own twins, so we don't figure in as much. Garlan and Darion, Aunt Pol's fraternal twins, are as dear to X'Nedra and me as our own children have been over the years. They are of an age with Beldaran, and are constantly whining because Beldaran was born with the 'beloved' prefix. When Grandfather told them each that they'd have to earn it, I'm told you could hear the shrieks in southern Tolnedra.

"Geran," I said quietly, not wanting to disturb my son too much. "Might I have a word?"

"Yes, Da. What can I do for you?" Geran asked, his voice tired. He'd been starting to use the Talent recently, but it tired him much more than it did anyone else in the family.

"Geran, are you alright?" I asked, half-running to where my son was seated. I felt his forehead, but he was on the cool side.

"Da, I'm fine. It's just all those generations-long land disputes on the upper end of the Isle," Geran said, but his words were trailing off. He started to fade on me.

"Geran, don't fall asleep on me, I'll get your sister and Aunt Pol, and we'll fix everything," I whispered to my only son. My only son. X'Nedra and I would probably never have any more children. . .

I sent my thought out immediately to Beldaran, who had some modicum of skill in healing.

Beldaran I thought feverishly get down here immediately! Something's wrong with your brother! Bring the family doctor. Contact Aunt Pol right now.

As I held Geran and fed him my strength as Aunt Pol did all those years ago for her twin, Beldaran, I thought about X'Nedra, and what would happen to her if Geran didn't make it. I knew it was useless, but I sent my thought in her direction. She'll only get mad if she finds out about it later.

OH! A cliffhanger! No more posts till next week, and only if I get, hmm, let's say, 5 reviews on this chapter or the previous one or the two put together.Love (even though cliffies are torture)

Ladykyo


	3. An Emergency and A Discovery

**X'Nedra's Story**

**disclaimer: the characters in this story belong to the original authors, David and Leigh Eddings. I just use the characters because the Eddings' _Belgariad, Mallorean, Elenium _and _Tamuli_ shaped how I write. I can't express how much the characters they created have affected me and my world-view. **

**So, cheesy as it may seem, this fanfiction is dedicated to David and Leigh Eddings, my favorite authors and the ones who opened my mind to fantasy.**

**Chapter 3: An Emergency and a Discovery**

X'Nedra's pov

I was still deeply asleep when I heard Garion's voice in my head. My hand must have been on Beldaran's amulet, because I heard him so clearly that it woke me up. I sat straight up in the large bed when I heard what was going on. I focused on my amulet and waited.

X'Nedra, Garion's though hit me, Our boy is so sick. Aunt Pol is coming, though. I know she will heal him.

I know, Garion; Aunt Pol would never let any of her boys go sick, I thought. And I thought that I thought it to myself.

X'Nedra? Was that really you? Garion's thought, while frantic, held the glimmer of pride or maybe hope. No, it couldn't have been X'Nedra. She can't do that. Aunt Pol!

I fell back on the bed, shocked that Garion had completely dismissed what had happened. Truth was, I wasn't sure it had happened either. But why would he completely discount me?

I couldn't worry about that my only son was sick, perhaps dying if Aunt Pol had already been sent for. I jammed my feet into the nearest shoes and ran out the door after I moved everything I had put in front of it earlier. I ran through the halls and corridors, racing to the throne room where I knew my son would be. What I saw scared me more than anything ever had before.

Garion was leaning over our son's ashen face, his body vibrating with the power coming off of him. Beldaran had arrived with the family doctor and all the healers in the Citadel in tow; every one of them was crowding around Geran, encircling him and Garion, closing ranks, and not a one of them made way for me to get to my son.

"Geran," I said, my voice's pitch rising on its own, thanks to my terror. I ran over to the newly formed enclave and pushed at one of the junior healers, trying to get to my son and husband. "Garion, tell them to let me through!"

A healer I didn't recognize put a hand on my shoulder and gave me that gods-forsaken smile that every healer and doctor gives the mother of a dying child. "Don't worry, my Lady. We will make Sir Geran comfortable before we move him to his room. Perhaps you should wait there for him."

I was so angry I could feel my heart beat in my eyes. I looked directly at the healer who had dared to address me as such, and soon other healers were looking as well. My heart pounded harder and harder, and I felt my lungs begin to tighten.

"I am his mother, Healer. I am queen of this Isle, I am Queen to the Overlord of the West. That is my son and I . . . Say . . MOVE!" I screamed and raised my hand to strike the imbecile, but suddenly he and his comrades were flung across the room. I gasped and stared at Beldaran.

"My gentle daughter did you do that? They're healers!" I said softly, afraid of my daughter.

"No, Mum," Beldaran said, her face white and her hands hovering above her father and brother.

"Garion, my Belgarion, did you do that, so I could see my Geran?" I asked, afraid of his answer.

"No, X'Nedra. That was you."


	4. The Cavalry Arrives

**X'Nedra's Story**

**disclaimer: the characters in this story belong to the original authors, David and Leigh Eddings. I just use the characters because the Eddings' _Belgariad, Mallorean, Elenium _and _Tamuli_ shaped how I write. I can't express how much the characters they created have affected me and my world-view. **

**So, cheesy as it may seem, this fanfiction is dedicated to David and Leigh Eddings, my favorite authors and the ones who opened my mind to fantasy.**

**Yes, Chapter 3 is up, the real chapter, so hop on over there and read that before you read this, okay?**

**Chapter 4: The Cavalry Arrives**

Garion's pov

I hadn't even realized that X'Nedra had come to the throne room. My mind was beginning to fragment from the effort to drag my son back from the encroaching dark, and I even thought that X'Nedra had used the Brotherhood's communication. The healers and Beldaran had encircled us, the healers trying medicine and Beldaran feeding information to and getting information from Aunt Pol and Grandmother and Grandfather.

I wasn't paying attention to the surroundings, and suddenly I felt a wave of angry power sweeping the unhelpful healers away yet washing calmly over me. I looked up and saw Beldaran's stricken face and X'Nedra's disbelief. When she asked, we couldn't lie.

She asked Beldaran, but then turned to me, her eyes bright with the force of her emotion.

"Garion, my Belgarion, did you do that, so I could see my Geran?" she asked, as if she were afraid of my answer.

"No, X'Nedra. That was you."

Beldaran's pov

When Mum arrived, I could feel a tornado brewing. She is always angry when the healers are no use. She would get rid of them if Da had the healing prowess of Aunt Pol. But as angry as Mum gets, as distraught as she was when she arrived, no-one expected the explosion of her power. When I answered, and Da answered, Mum broke down next to Geran, sobbing. She was inconsolable, so I turned my attention to Aunt Pol.

What do we do now? I asked quietly. I didn't want to upset Mum anymore, but we needed instructions.

Give your strength to your brother. Get the guard to bring a stretcher, and take Geran to a big bedroom, where I'll have plenty of room to work. Aunt Pol's instructions were brusque and to the point, but they always were.

Grandfather's mind broke through, and he was anxious. Beldaran, where did that blast of power come from? We're getting ready to come across the Sea of Winds, and there had better be one hell of an explanation when we get there. You and Geran are NOT to be experimenting without one of us there!

You won't believe it. Are you going falcon, all three of you? I asked, deftly avoiding answering Grandfather.

All five of us Grandmother's voice said crisply. The twins are with us. Durnik and Beldin will be bringing the young shortly.

I finished up the conversation and turned to my father, who was still cradling Geran.

"Grandmother, Grandfather, uncles Beltira and Belkira will be arriving late tonight or midday tomorrow with Aunt Pol. Uncles Durnik and Beldin and Aunt Vella will bring the twins not long after. We are to give Geran all the strength we can spare so we can move him safely to a large room where Aunt Pol can work," I said, offering my hand to Da. He grasped it and I felt his mind open just a little bit to me. I offered a hand to Mum, but she shook her head.

"I'll get the guard, and I'll wait in Aunt Pol's rooms. That's where we should take Geran," she said stiffly, rising as if she were twice as old as she actually was.

The healers gave her wide berth, and the guards returned shortly with a sturdy stretcher. Da and I helped them get Geran onto the stretcher, never losing contact with him; losing contact was losing the life of my dear brother.

By the time we got Geran up to Aunt Pol's rooms, Mum had lit torches and the room was warm and clean in addition to being well-lit. The covers were turned down, and Mum was waiting. The guards carried Geran to the bed, and we all had to work together to get him into the bed. My brother likes sport, and he is a big boy. The guards removed the stretcher and returned to their station at the open door. They gave us what little privacy we could afford, and then it was just my parents and me.

"Da, rest for a while and get some food. I'll hold Geran for now, but if we give too much right now, we won't have it to give if the cavalry is late," I said, trying to comfort my father. He looked at me, and his eyes were so red.

"Is there anything I can do, right now, Garion?" Mum asked tentatively.

"Yes, X'Nedra. Help me to a bed close by and find me some food. You can come get me when Beldaran needs a rest. I managed to drag Geran back from the dark, so Beldaran should last a while. And stay by me," Da said, removing his hands from Geran and offering them to Mum.

"But can't I " Mum started to ask, but Da shook his head.

I nodded to Mum, and she helped Da out of the room, and I was alone with my brother.

**Okay, to get your paws on Chapter 5, I would like a mere 3 reviews. Thanks, and I'll see you on the reviews page.**


End file.
